Las Aventuras de Amelia: February 2007

Monday, February 26, 2007

BILBAO, SPAIN

On Sunday, February 25th, I visited the Basque City of Bilbao. It is a one hour bus ride from San Sebastian-very easy to get to and from as a day trip. Bilbao is Spain’s 4th largest city, and definitely a place to visit for anyone fascinated with both old and new architecture.

When we started our journey it was chilly-only about 11 degrees Celsius(50s), windy and rainy. But, as the day went on blue skies appeared, sun, and the temperature warmed up to about 15 degrees-very tolerable.

When we first got to Bilbao we walked from the Termibus to the shopping district in search of any sort of comida to start the day. The prices were ridiculous at nearly every place we saw, but finally we stumbled on a reasonably priced Chinese place.

Afterwards, we made our way to the infamous Museo Guggenheim-Bilbao which opened 10 years ago in 1997. The Guggenheim has 3 other museums in other major world cities-Berlin, NYC, and Venice.

The art work inside is extremely modern and thought provoking. Although we did not know any of the artists well, except for the one Picasso painting, it was interesting to wander all the exhibits, and not very time consuming either. More interesting than the art was the architecture of the building by American, Frank Gehry. Unfortunately pictures can not be taken from inside, but I did get some o.k. pictures of the outside. Just from the outside you can see that the entire structure is full of curves, window, and metal-very sleek and modern.

After the museum we walked along the river where there are sculptures and bridges and beautiful buildings. We followed the river to the Parte Vieja, old part of town, to see the church from the 1300’s that is still in the center.

Later, we slowly made our way back to the bus station to catch our 8 P.M. ride back to San Sebastian.

IMAGES BELOW:

LAS FOTOS DE BILBAO

Images of the City

Memorial for victims of ETA Terrorism

MUSEO GUGGENHEIM

The Guggenheim Museum-Bilbao, Spain.

Monday, February 19, 2007

MAS FOTOS DE SAN SEBASTIAN

Me and Wind Sculpture statues by famous local artist

Street Lamp

San Sebastian City Hall

Turquoise water...

River Urmenea

Wind Comb Sculptures

Kursaal Convention Center

Playa Zurriola

River Uremenea at night

Santa Clara Uhartea State Park Island

Catedral de Buen Pastor

LA PLAYA

I think winter is pretty much over already.

It was over 80 degrees on Friday...

I have been going to the beach every day.

The past week's excitement was mostly due in part to the beginning of classes and all the stress that it entailed.

The classes here are so much different than in the States-structure-wise, which is why it is confusing. On Wednesday, we officially register, so then I will post what my official schedule is.

Over the weekend was "carenval" in celebration of the beginning of lent. To me, it looks like Halloween. Everybody dresses up in random costumes: Native Americans, Spiderman, Santa, Princesses, Fairy tale characters, Animals, Colonial People, Nuns, Balerinas, Mexicans...etc. There were so many parades and marching bands, especially in my plaza as usual.